Circulating IL-6, IL-17 and vitamin D in hepatocellular carcinoma: Potential biomarkers for a more favorable prognosis?

Figures & data

Table 1.  Laboratory data of patients with HCV, liver cirrhosis, and HCC.

Parameter	Control	HCV-infected	Cirrhotic	HCC-bearing
Gender (M/F)	25/25	35/15	28/22	28/22
AST (IU/L)	22.1 ± 4.4	119.3 ± 10.1^a	79.6 ± 5.9^ab	80.4 ± 8.6^ab
ALT (IU/L)	22.7 ± 3.0	137.9 ± 14.6^a	61.6 ± 4.3^ab	60.4 ± 7.0^ab
GGT (IU/L)	16.0 ± 4.2	91.3 ± 23.3^a	159.6 ± 72.7^ab	314.7 ± 55.6^abc
ALP (IU/L)	102.7 ± 23.7	304.6 ± 26.6^a	122.2 ± 9.1^ab	120.2 ± 14.0^ab
Albumin (g/dl)	4.2 ± 0.3	3.5 ± 0.2^a	2.3 ± 0.1^ab	2.3 ± 0.2^ab
Total Bilirubin (mg/dl)	0.7 ± 0.1	2.4 ± 0.3	3.4 ± 0.4^ab	1.3 ± 0.1^abc
Cholesterol (mg/dl)	210.1 ± 20.6	169.1 ± 7.4^a	72.2 ± 5.7^ab	72.0 ± 7.0^ab
PT (s)	12.3 ± 0.2	14.2 ± 0.3^a	17.9 ± 1.2^ab	20.1 ± 1.4^abc
25-hydroxy-vitamin D (ng/ml)	41.7 ± 8.4	19.8 ± 1.8^a	12.2 ± 1.8^ab	9.1 ± 2.2^abc
1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D (ng/ml)	41.9 ± 7.9	21.0 ± 1.8^a	14.2 ± 1.8^ab	11.3 ± 2.4^abc

Values shown are means (±SD). n = 50 individuals per group.

Values shown are significantly different from the ^anormal control group, ^bHCV group, or ^cliver cirrhotic group at p < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA followed by LSD).

Table 2.  Serum HCV-RNA titre and levels of IL-6, IL-17, and AFP in patients with HCV, liver cirrhosis, or HCC.

Parameter	Control	HCV-infected	Cirrhotic	HCC-bearing
HCV-RNA titer (IU/ml)	0	45.5 ± 13.7^a	103.7 ± 62.8^ab	266.6 ± 37.8^abc
IL-6 (ng/ml)	68.3 ± 7.8	99.6 ± 9.4^a	155.7 ± 27.8^ab	279.6 ± 32.2^abc
IL-17 (ng/ml)	1.2 ± 0.4	6.4 ± 1.7^a	92.4 ± 28.8^ab	162.9 ± 26.0^abc
AFP (ng/ml)	12.4 ± 1.5	54.5 ± 16.7^a	7702 ± 3243.5^ab	15,375.4 ± 2571.4^abc

Values shown are means (±SD). n = 50 individuals per group.

Values shown are significantly different from the ^anormal control group, ^bHCV group, or ^cliver cirrhotic group at p < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA followed by LSD).

Figure 1. Correlation between serum IL-17 levels and HCV titer. The data shows there is a positive correlation between IL-17 and HCV titers (r = +0.95).

Table 3.  Correlational analyses between IL-17 levels and classic hepatocellular markers among the studied groups.

Parameter	IL-17	IL-6
AFP	0.85*	0.91*
HCV-RNA titre	0.95*	0.85*
IL-6	0.91*	–
Vit D	−0.67*	−0.76*
Active Vit D	−0.68*	−0.81*

*Value shown resulted in a significant Pearson Correlation (r) at p < 0.05.

Figure 2. ROC curve illustrating the sensitivity and specificity of the IL-6, IL-17, AFP values, and HCV titers in HCC-bearing and cirrhotic patients.

Table 4.  Prognostic validity of IL-6, IL-17, AFP, and HCV titers (by PCR) in differentiating between cirrhotic and HCC states.

Parameter	IL-6	IL-17	HCV-RNA	AFP
Best cut-off value	216	108	117	9830
Area under the curve	0.997	0.939	0.946	0.933
Sensitivity	100	100	100	100
Specificity	92	86	86	86

Table 5.  Prognostic validity of IL-6, IL-17, AFP, and HCV titers (by PCR) in differentiating between cirrhotic vs HCV-infected states.

Parameter	IL-6	IL-17	HCV-RNA	AFP
Best Cut off value	122	37.1	65.6	2719
Area under the curve	1	1	0.999	1
Sensitivity	100	100	100	100
Specificity	100	100	96	100